The Wolverine

May 2016 Issue

The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports

Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/666058

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 5 of 177

THE MADNESS OF MARCH Dear The Wolverine: Finality! The NCAA Tournament, known as March Madness, defines the reality of finality as definitively as anything I can think of in sports. Win to play another day, or lose and go home. We read about it. We hear about it. We watch the winners cel- ebrate as the losers literally cry from disappointment. I watched Tom Izzo cry at the post-game press conference after the devastating loss to Middle Ten- nessee. Tom Izzo thought that MSU was good enough to be national champions, and he thought so even in defeat. It was enough to make him cry. He knows better than anyone that a team wins or goes home. To his credit, he faced the reality that the better team won on that given day. On another day, probably not. Michigan pulled out the victory against Tulsa, but could not handle the adjustments by Notre Dame af- ter halftime in their matchup. Some wanted to rekindle the argu- ment that Michigan did not deserve to be in the tournament. I will not waste sentences defending their selection to play in the "pre" tourna- ment game, or in the tournament for that matter. Michigan deserved to be in the tournament! The selection process will forever be the subject of second-guessing, and if you do not believe me, wait until next year, or if you are impa- tient, review the comments from previous years' selections. John Beilein had some comments after Michigan returned to Ann Arbor. Typical of Beilein, he said he had to get better. Defensively, the team needs to be better. He had spe- cific comments regarding areas of improvement for specific players. To me it sounded like a challenge to these players for areas where they   FROM OUR READERS Be Heard! Send your letters to: Wolverine Letters • P.O. Box 1304 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Or e-mail: jborton@thewolverine.com Letters may be edited for clarity or length. John Beilein's squad went 1-1 in the NCAA Tournament, giving the Wolverines an 11-6 mark in six NCAA appearances during the coach's nine years at the helm. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of The Wolverine - May 2016 Issue